House Appropriators Set Benchmark Funding for Historic Preservation Programs in FY’09
Contributed By: The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Department of Public Policy
Email The Author: pr@nthp.org
Website: http://www.nthp.org

The House Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment marked up the FY’09 Interior Appropriations Bill (HR 2643) on Wednesday to set benchmark funding levels for the national preservation program. Preliminary numbers out of the subcommittee’s markup indicate that the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) will receive a major increase (+ $5.624 million) for the State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) over FY’08 enacted levels. Otherwise, Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs) and the Save America’s Treasures (SAT) program were slightly above level funding in FY’08, but Preserve America (PA) was down (-$2.383 million) significantly. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and funding for a national inventory of historic properties were unfortunately zeroed out. The full Appropriations committee markup is scheduled for June 18th. Below is a summary of yesterday’s markup levels compared to previous years’ funding levels and the Administration’s proposed FY’09 budget.

Historic Preservation Fund FY’06-FY’09 Funding Levels ($ in millions)

HPF Program

FY06 Enacted Level

FY07 Enactedl Level

FY’08 Enacted Levels

FY’09 Proposed Budget

FY’09 House Subcte. Markup Level

States

$35.717

$36.007

$39.376

$35.717

$45.0

Tribes

$3.941

$3.981

$6.399

$3.941

$7.0

SAT

$29.558

$7.69

$24.61

$15.0

$25.0

HBCUs

$2.956

$2.985

--

--

--

Preserve America

$5.0

$5.0

$7.383

$10

$5.0

National Inventory of Historic Properties

--

--

--

$2.0

--

TOTAL

$72.172

$55.663

$70.385

$66.658

$82.0

While the Subcommittee’s mark is to be lauded for increasing the states’ share of the HPF, it is still significantly less than the $115 million requested by the National Trust and its preservation partners for the Historic Preservation Fund in FY’09, including: $50 million for State Historic Preservation Offices; $20 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices; $30 million for Save America's Treasures; $10 million for the Preserve America Program; and $5 million for a National Inventory of Historic Properties.

Preservationists hope that they can improve on the House funding levels as Interior spending bill moves through the appropriations cycle.

Reprinted by permission of the Public Policy Department of the National Trust